Box Score Box Score
ABILENE – No. 4 Mary Hardin-Baylor used a dominant third-quarter performance to pull away from No. 25 Hardin-Simmons for a 35-17 victory Saturday afternoon.
The Cru improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the American Southwest Conference, winning a 13th straight ASC game and beating the Cowboys (2-2, 0-2) for the 10th straight time. UMHB held a 14-10 halftime lead before taking advantage of two HSU turnovers in the third quarter to take control.
Andy McAteer intercepted a Taylor Byrd pass and returned it 32 yards to the Cowboys' 8-yard line, setting up
LiDarral Bailey's 6-yard touchdown pass to
Tucker Glaske for a 21-10 lead with 6:39 left in the third.
Darius Wilson's 23-yard TD run 5:34 later pushed it to 28-10, and the Cru converted
Allen Dixon's interception of a Zach Stewart pass into Bailey's 28-yard scoring hook-up with
Ervin Johnson to go up 35-10 with 29 seconds remaining in the quarter.
Bailey completed 16 of 20 passes for 201 yards and the two scores. Johnson finished with four receptions for 65 yards, and
Damian Davis had six catches for 50 yards.
Wilson also had a 7-yard TD run in the second quarter that made it 14-3 and finished with 61 yards on 11 carries while sharing time with
Elijah Hudson, who ran for 59 yards on 15 attempts. Hudson's 1-yard TD plunge in the first quarter opened the scoring for the Cru after HSU's Scott Newberry had given the Cowboys a 3-0 lead with a 26-yard field goal.
HSU kept a drive alive late in the second quarter with a fake field goal attempt and capitalized with Byrd's 8-yard TD pass to Travis Tatsch only 3 seconds before halftime that cut the Cru's lead to 14-10. Logan Simpson's 48-yard catch and run after a Stewart pass accounted for the Cowboys' final TD midway through the fourth quarter.
Steven Rockwell rushed for 72 yards for the Cowboys, who got 131 passing yards from Byrd and nine catches for 108 yards from Tatsch.
Cru linebacker
Ty Dooley was in on 11 tackles in the first half and finished with 15 – tying for the third-highest single-game total in UMHB history. Linebacker
Javicz Jones added 13 tackles and cornerback
Brodrick Crain had 10 as the Cru yielded 360 total yards, many of which came in the fourth quarter. UMHB churned out 445 total yards against an HSU defense that was paced by Emmanuel Akers' 13 tackles.
UMHB continues ASC play next Saturday when it hosts Louisiana College at 1 p.m.
